Where to start with The Minneapolis Sound
The Minneapolis Sound is a music scene from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 1958–1991. Its principal artists include Prince, The Time, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Morris Day. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 15 dated events.
Start here
- 1
1999
Prince · 1982This double album broke the Minneapolis Sound through commercially, replacing horns with LinnDrum and synth work that sounded like nothing else on the radio.
- 2
Purple Rain
Prince and The Revolution · 1984It spent 24 consecutive weeks at number one and paired Prince's guitar solos with Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman's textured contributions.
- 3
What Time Is It?
The Time · 1982Original release: Warner Bros. Records · 9-23701 · 12″ Vinyl · US 1982It shows the scene beyond Prince, with The Time's own guitar sound and vocal identity sharpening past his studio dominance.
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- 4
Dirty Mind
Prince · 1980Dirty Mind fused funk, new wave, and punk into something that scandalized listeners with how plainly it talked about sex, and it proved the Minneapolis Sound could cross genre lines without losing its shape.
- 5
Controversy
Prince · 1981Controversy introduced Prince's abbreviated spelling style and kept pressing on the boundaries between genres, and between what pop music was supposed to say about race and religion.
- 6
The Time
The Time · 1981Original release: Warner Bros. Records · BSK 3598 · 12″ Vinyl · US 1981The Time's debut established the band as a funk powerhouse, though the credit was a kind of sleight of hand: Prince played nearly every instrument himself under the pseudonym Jamie Starr.
- 7
Sign o' the Times
Prince · 1987Sign o' the Times is widely called Prince's masterpiece, a double album that stretched the Minneapolis Sound across its full emotional and stylistic range.
- 8
Control
Janet Jackson · 1986Control was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis at Flyte Tyme Productions and defined pop-R&B for the rest of the decade, launching the production empire that would eventually place…
For the obsessed
- 9
For You
Prince · 1978Original release: Warner Bros. Records · BSK 3150 · 12″ Vinyl · US 1978For You announced Prince's method before it announced his sound: he played all 27 instrumental parts himself, save one co-write, and burned through more than twice his advance proving it.
- 10
Pandemonium
The Time · 1990Original release: Paisley Park · 9 27490-2 · CD · US 1990Pandemonium reunited the original seven members of The Time and produced 'Jerk Out,' but its real significance was structural: after years of Prince playing most of the instruments on their…
The stories behind every record are in The Minneapolis Sound, a members' issue.